"" ePortfolio Assignment - First Draft

OVERVIEW:

First and foremost, do not be alarmed at the size of this assignment! You have done the majority of the work already. A portfolio gives authors the opportunity to show their audience the very best of their work and/or the ways they have improved over a period of time. Your portfolio is going to cover the work done in this class and this will look a little different for every student. However, everyone's portfolio will include the following elements:

Reflective Introduction

Polished Project Exhibit

Process Exhibit

Peer Review Exhibit

Wild Card

The portfolio will receive a holistic grade (i.e., one grade for the whole thing together) using the class rubric. Feel free to get creative with this! So long as the mandatory components are included, you have full creative authority!

Reflective Introduction:

This piece will be the first section of your portfolio! Your portfolio introduction should have a thesis (or controlling claim) and should analyze and synthesize the elements of your portfolio (these are concepts you should be familiar with, should be able to distinguish, and should have experience completing after this semester). Much of your portfolio grade will be based on this essay; it is your foundation! You set your readers up to understand what is going to come after it.

Instructions: With this reflection, you will be presenting a clear, concise (around 500 word essay, or 5 minute audio or video project), thesis-driven project that makes a central claim about your writing, revising, and editing over the course of this semester. All of the material you include in your portfolio will provide the evidence/supporting details and quotes you will need to fully develop your essay. As always, providing specific evidence to support clear topics makes a strong essay. You will pull examples of how you've grown from the pieces you have already completed!

Here are some questions you could ask yourself / tactics you could use:

• Compose a letter, podcast, or vodcast directed to somebody explaining your writing and the work you've done in this class. What would you want that person to see in your work?
• Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a writer in any part of the writing and composing processes as described in the rubric. Show through revision your understanding of how to improve those weaknesses and emphasize the strengths.
• Comment on the most interesting, most difficult, or most surprising things you learned about yourself as a writer, student, or person through writing this semester.
• Describe how the different skills used in reading, researching, drafting, editing, composing, organizing, analyzing, documenting, proofreading, and writing in this course, as demonstrated through your work, contribute to your ability to perform well in other courses or activities (think about such skills as developing critical reading skills; knowing how to support claims with specific evidence; recognizing ethos, pathos, and logos; audience awareness; or use of grammar and sentence structure).
• Answer the question "Who is the 'me' that I want to present in my portfolio? And, how do my exhibits provide evidence for that?"

2) Polished Project Exhibit:

This section should be the very best representative of your abilities developed from this semester. You should revise whichever essay or project you choose from the version your instructor last saw to present the most polished version you can. Create a one-paragraph introduction for the exhibit that explains what you learned about writing, communicating, and/or critical reading from this project.

Instructions: You will write a short paragraph or two introducing why you chose the paper or project you did, and then you will insert that paper or project into the document.

3)Process Exhibit: Choose a different essay project from #2 to revise and show it in at least three different versions: an early draft with a peer review, the draft you turned in to be graded, and a recently revised version. You will showcase the effective writing strategies you've learned throughout the semester through your revisions. This is your opportunity to show not only what you can do but also how you do it and the work you put in.

Instructions: Create a one-paragraph introduction for this section that explains what important improvements the reader should see in this progression. You may also annotate this entry. Place all three versions in the document.

4)Peer Review Exhibit: One of the side goals for this course is that you can both create your own writing and discuss the writing of others intelligently. In the Peer Review Exhibit, choose one peer review interaction you have had with a peer where you are giving them advice about their writing.

Instructions: Provide a one-paragraph introduction that explains why you've chosen the peer review you chose, and what ways you feel you contributed to their becoming a better writer. Show both their work and your comments.

5)Wild Card: You can include anything here that you've authored: another piece of writing for this class, an essay from another class, a WWA submission, a Discord entry, or any other assignment that you thought expressed some strong critical or creative thinking, an electronic text of any kind (a blog post, for example), something from high school, an infographic explaining one of your essays, or something creative you've written for fun.

Instructions: Create a one-paragraph introduction for this section that explains why you have chosen this piece, then insert the piece into the document. """"

Original Assignment:

I chose to transform my research paper on the effects of social media on mental health into a new medium. In the paper, I explored how social media platforms contribute to feelings of anxiety, depression, and the negative impact of social comparison. The paper also discussed both the benefits and the harms of social media, providing evidence from various studies.

New Medium/Format:

For the remediation, I decided to turn my research paper into a podcast episode. Podcasts are a dynamic medium for discussing complex topics like mental health because they provide an opportunity for a more engaging, conversational tone. I thought this would make the information more accessible and relatable to listeners, as mental health and social media are topics that are often discussed informally in podcasts.

Transformation Process:

1. Key Points: I focused on three main sections: the positive aspects of social media, the harmful effects, and the role of social comparison.
2. Tone: I rewrote the content into a conversational script to make it sound natural and approachable.
3. Sound Effects: I added subtle background music and sound effects, like phone notifications, to simulate the social media experience and add depth to the topic.

Reflection :

I chose to transform my research paper into a podcast because I felt it would make the topic of social media's impact on mental health more engaging and accessible. A podcast allows for a more personal, relatable tone that can capture the audience's attention better than an academic paper. This transformation process helped me rethink how I communicate complex issues. In the paper, I presented facts and research findings, but in the podcast, I had to consider how to keep the listener engaged while explaining similar concepts.

I had to adapt the formal structure of the paper, which was more data-driven, into a narrative format that flowed naturally in an audio medium. This meant simplifying language, using anecdotes, and adding sound effects to create atmosphere. The podcast format helped me realize how essential tone and presentation are in communicating ideas effectively. It was a fun challenge to balance providing accurate information with keeping the audience's attention, and I believe the podcast allows for a deeper emotional connection to the topic.

Explanation:

For this remediation project, I chose to transform my research paper on the effects of social media on mental health into a podcast episode. The original paper explored how social media contributes to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and the negative impact of social comparison. I selected this assignment because the topic is particularly relevant in today's digital age, and I wanted to experiment with a medium that could reach a wider, more diverse audience. A podcast is a great way to present such information because it allows for a more conversational and accessible approach, making complex issues easier to understand.

The transformation process began with selecting the core ideas from my research paper. The paper had multiple sections, including the positive and negative effects of social media on mental health, and the role of social comparison. In the podcast, I decided to maintain these sections but present them in a more conversational tone. This was important because the goal of the podcast is to engage listeners in a way that feels personal and informal, rather than delivering an academic lecture. I restructured the information into a script that was easier to follow, using plain language to make the concepts clearer. Additionally, I included sound effectssuch as notifications and background musicto simulate the experience of being on social media, which helped bring the topic to life and made it feel more relatable.

In addition to transforming the content, I also had to adapt the format. Writing an academic paper requires a formal structure, but podcasts offer a much freer, less rigid framework. I had to think about pacing, tone, and how to keep the audience's attention while discussing fairly serious topics. This meant simplifying the language and focusing on clear, concise points. I aimed for a balance between providing factual information and maintaining a lively, engaging narrative. I also edited the recording to make sure the flow felt natural, removing unnecessary pauses and ensuring smooth transitions between sections.

This project met all the requirements outlined in the assignment. It started with an assignment I was connected toa research paper that explored the mental health effects of social mediaand it was transformed into a new format, a podcast. The core ideas from the paper were preserved, as I focused on the same themes, such as the impact of social comparison, anxiety, and depression. The process of transforming my academic paper into a podcast encouraged me to explore new forms of communication and think creatively about how to present complex ideas in a more engaging way. The podcast allowed me to experiment with sound and tone, and it helped me think about how different media affect the way an audience processes and connects with the content. Overall, this project deepened my understanding of how content can be reshaped through different mediums to better reach and impact an audience.